Snowpiercer (2014) Review

This is a very unique film and reviewing it is going to be quite hard. It’s a South Korean film with a mostly American and British cast, I was expecting there to be more Korean actors but it is limited to two who were in my opinion very strong. The acting is brilliant and especially from Chris Evans, not something I expected from the trailers and the subtle moments of dialogue really stand out in this film. The story and setting of this film is very weird and that’s how I like these films, good Sci-Fi idea with plenty of material such as Segregation and dystopian survival. The battles and action was pretty good and again totally bizarre as it all has to take place in cramped train carts. The visuals where decent, I’d say somewhere between a B movie and Blockbuster film. And the music wasn’t bad either. I’ll go into much more detail below but for now bookmark this if you are waiting to see the film, if you have seen the film then check out the spoiler sections and I will look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts.

“Have you ever been alone on this train? When was the last time you were alone? You can’t remember, can you? So please do. Take your time.” Hard to find a quote that works without seeing the film. But you’ll get it soon.

Plot:

In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off all life on the planet except for a lucky few that boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, where a class system evolves.

Tim’s Film Reviews Recommended

Story: 80%       Acting: 90%      Characters: 80%      Dialogue: 85%

Sci-Fi/Dystopia: 85%      Style/Sound: 70%      Visuals: 70%

Total: 80%

The story has a lot turns from carriage to carriage and not spoiling anything is really hard, I’ll just say that it is smart and doesn’t take any expected roots. The characters and dialogue are where this films strength lay. The characters are very weirdly diverse, we get the hero but haunted character, the younger sidekick/little brother kind character, the old mentor/elder, a mentally broken tech guy and then the bad guys which have their own hierarchy of weird and twisted ways. I think this maybe some of Chris Evans best work, especially near the end of the film.

The fights where good and there were some epic showdowns with some bizarre train fights. We also got some interesting gun fights that got increasingly dark and weird! The visuals where good but not anything special. Music was quite good, but nothing blew me away. I really am struggling to review this.

SPOILERS!

Seriously guys turn away now to avoid spoilers. In the last scene Chris Evans wakes up with a script in his hand and it was all a dream! I told you not to read this section. My favourite part of this films character dialogue was this line from Chris Evan’s character “Want to know what I hate about myself? I know what people taste like. And I know that babies taste the best.” It was so dark and perfectly described how bad the early days of this train’s use was. Also the Wilfred logo is exactly the same as WordPress’s logo .

Trailer:

The best reviews I found would be these:

“One of the things I liked the most about this movie was how it transitioned in the third act, where it started bringing up Matrix-like philosophical elements without being quite as obtrusive as the Architect’s speech.” Flights Tights and Movie Nights. Full Review

“Taken as a whole, SP is a richly constructed and vibrant science-fiction action piece. It doesn’t begin or end things particularly spectacularly, but the vast majority of it is a darkly fun time. I didn’t quite know what to expect from such an odd combination of acting, writing, and directing talents, but in the end most everything came together to create a wacky South Korean English-language adventure.” Express Elevator To Hell. Full Review

“This movie was bizarre, but it was very well done. It had everything stacked against it due to the really closed environment and all that, but it turned out to be amazingly well done. I loved the camera work and the score. Chris Evans gave a wonderful performance, and (no spoilers, relax), the story that was told at the end really just bowled me over, his delivery was perfect, it was flawless.” The Sporadic Chronicles. Full Review

Spoiler!

My favourite scene would have to be Curtis and Minsu sacrificing themselves to save that girl near the end. That end is weird.